Postponement request in Perlitz sentencing prompted by issues in Haiti

Michael P. Mayko, Staff Writer

Published 10:59 pm, Sunday, November 21, 2010

A cholera outbreak, damage from a recent hurricane, political unrest and riots in Haiti are behind a defense request to postpone -- until late January -- the sentencing of Douglas Perlitz, the humanitarian who admitted sexually abusing at least one homeless boy under his care in that country.

The prosecution team is opposed to a postponement, however, and has asked U.S. District Judge Janet Bond Arterton to conduct a hearing on the matter this week.

At any hearing, the prosecution wants the judge to question the defense as to what steps have been taken in the past four months to prepare for Perlitz's sentencing, what specifically happened in the past few days to lead to this request and why wasn't the prosecution notified earlier this month about any defense problems.

Perlitz, 40, a Fairfield University graduate who was honored by the school, which chose him as the 2002 commencement speaker and gave him an honorary doctorate degree, is scheduled to be sentenced Dec. 21.

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At that time, he faces anywhere from eight to nearly 20 years in prison. Although he pleaded guilty to just one charge of traveling from the U.S. to Haiti to engage in sex with one boy, Assistant U.S. Attorney Krishna Patel has said she will present evidence at his sentencing that he had sex with up to 13 boys.

But whether that happens could depend on when the sentencing takes place.

Last week, members of the prosecution team, including Senior Special Agent Rod Khattabi of the U.S. Department of Homeland Security's Immigration and Customs Enforcement, traveled to Haiti to finalize travel for at least 11 witnesses, who include victims and staff members from the now-shuttered Project Pierre Toussaint -- the three-stage education program Perlitz helped establish for homeless boys in Cap-Haitien, the country's second largest city.

Federal agents spent the past week meeting with U.S. and Haitian government officials to obtain passport and conditional parole visas and travel authorization for the witnesses.

But even the government admits that given "the rapidly deteriorating conditions in Haiti caused by the January 2010 earthquake, the recent cholera epidemic and the very recent rioting in Cap Haitien, the hometown of the victims, and Port Au Prince (the capital city where the international airport is located), the government cannot guarantee ... it will be able to bring the victims and witnesses to the U.S. for a Dec. 21 sentencing."

Yet, even while the prosecution opposes a delay, they did concede that because of "civil unrest currently taking place in Haiti, the victims spent 10 hours making the trip" from Cap-Haitien to Port Au Prince. Prior to the earthquake such a trip took less than an hour by air. But the earthquake damaged airports in Port Au Prince leading to a restrictions in the number of flights there.

A first attempt by the witnesses to travel to Port Au Prince "was aborted when insurgents with machete knives threatened to harm the victims," the prosecution team advised the judge. A second trip had the victims "walking and traveling on motorcycles to avoid insurgents threatening passengers in vehicles," they told Arterton.

Additionally, the country is facing what has become a heated and somewhat tumultuous presidential election scheduled for Nov. 28.

Still the prosecution team -- which includes Patel, Khatabi and Assistant U.S. Attorneys Richard Schechter and Stephen Reynolds -- claim that because of the "deteriorating conditions in Haiti, any delay... might very well mean that the victims will not be heard at all and will not be able to attend, the sentencing in this matter."

Haiti has been wracked by natural disasters beginning with the earthquake in January that destroyed much of Port au Prince. That destruction and the inability to rebuild the infrastructures so food, shelter and health care could be provided to the hundreds of thousands left homeless probably led to the recent cholera outbreak. In October, Hurricane Tomas brought more destruction and flooding when it hit the country's northern section.

"All of this turmoil has interfered with our ability to communicate with individuals in Haiti," said attorney David T. Grudberg, who with Attorney William F. Dow III, represent Perlitz.

"Because the defendant lacks the resources and political clout available to the U.S. government, the defense is at a greater disadvantage in trying to work through logistical hurdles," Grudberg said.

The defense wants to fly in several former students, some of whom spoke to the Connecticut Post in Haiti last December, who intend to voice their support for Perlitz.